Michigan quintet Greensky Bluegrass welcomed Grateful Dead drummers Billy Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart – currently touring as the Rhythm Devils – to perform with them at last weekend’s Hoxeyville Festival. The pair joined GB for a bluegrass-infused version of China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider. You can watch a clip of the action on YouTube.
In other Greensky Bluegrass news, the band has announced that they will be ringing in the New Year at Cervantes’ Other Side in Denver, CO on December 30 and 31. Tickets go on sale on Sept. 5 at the group’s website.
Here’s a quick look at some other stories of interest…
Finally, journalist Linda Park has access to My Morning Jacket other writers can never attain. That’s because Park is married to MMJ bassist Tom Blankenship. Park recently accompanied the band on parts of its summer tour and has shared twoposts worth of fantastic photos from the run.
When I decided to take my vacation in Los Angeles this year, one of the first things I did was go on JamBase to see what bands were performing the week I was going to be out in the Southern California sunshine. The one show that stood out was The Neville Brothers, Preservation Hall Jazz Band and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band at the Hollywood Bowl.
You may be asking yourself, why is the food guy’s first post from an LA food trip about a concert? Well here’s why – like everyone who reads this blog on a regular basis, one of the important things to consider when going to a show are pre and post show eats as well as options available during the show.
Pre-show eats wound up working out really well. One of the places I really wanted to check out while in LA was Pizzeria Mozza.
Here is the information on the about page on the Mozza website:
Nancy Silverton, Mario Batali and Joseph Bastianich meld their prodigious talents to bring Pizzeria Mozza and Osteria Mozza to the heart of Los Angeles. With the devout commitment to product, environment and hospitality, the two unique but equally engaging concepts provide dynamic templates for displaying the group’s profound passions.
Dinner reservations can be real hard to get but lucky for me my cousin works as a waiter there. He told me that since Mozza is open 12-12 every day straight through, the best times to go are between 3-5 pm. He happened not to be working the day we wanted to go so he joined me and my friend Wayne who is a Private Chef in Los Angeles (and a damn good one too!). So Wayne and I met my cousin at Mozza at 4 PM the day of the Neville’s show. Upon being seated we said to him “You work here and know the food and the staff, we trust you, order for all of us and tell us what we owe at the end.” What followed was a tour through the menu hitting various dishes, flavors and cooking styles.
While James Brown may have been the Hardest Working Man In Show Business, The Roots clearly deserve the moniker as the Hardest Working Band. The Philly hip-hop act, who serve as Jimmy Fallon’s house band, along with touring and recording on their own, recently teamed up with neo-soul singer John Legend for a new album called Wake Up! – which drops on September 21 and channels vintage 1960′s and 70′s soul sounds.
The pair recently released this video for Wake Up Everybody, that features a guest appearance from Common and back-up vocals from Melanie Fiona…
John Legend & The Roots will play their only scheduled date at New York’s Terminal 5 on September 23, while our favorite NYC venue Brooklyn Bowl will host a special album listening party on August 31.
Check out Palladia on Saturday at 9PM for the premiere of Gorillaz – Live at The Camden Roundhouse. The program includes hits such as Feel Good, Inc. with De La Soul and Stylo with Bobby Womack and Mos Def.
Friday, August 27 [all times EDT]
Bonnaroo 2008: Pearl Jam [MSG 8PM]
Jeff Beck: Live at Ronnie Scott’s [Palladia 8PM]
Jimmy Kimmel: Black Crowes [ABC Midnight]
Carson Daly: Snoop Dogg [NBC 1:35AM]
Saturday, August 28
Austin City Limits: Esperanza Spalding [PBS]
Genesis: When In Rome [Palladia 9AM]
Kings of Leon: Live From Bonnaroo [Fuse 2PM]
Gorillaz: Live From Camden Roundhouse [Palladia 9PM]
I’ve been a little busy the past few weeks, so my apologies for neglecting this column. But I’m back and while technically I’m only supposed to be using performances from August 16th – 22nd, I need to grab a little something from Sunday August 15th because the Jeff Tweedy solo set from Wilco’s Solid Sound Festival welcomed many special guests and was all around awesome. We’ll start with a few tracks from that and move on to some setlist trickery that My Morning Jacket has been employing and close out with the guitarmageddon that ensues when two jamband shredders sit-in which each other’s ensembles.
[Thanks to liveween for this week's photo]
Artist & Title:Jeff Tweedy – Various – See Below. Date & Venue: 2010-08-15 Solid Sound Festival – North Adams, MA Taper & Show Download:Brenndan Murphy
Wilco’s Solid Sound Festival, by everything I’ve heard, was a massive success and one of the highlights was the Jeff Tweedy solo set that featured a number of rarities, special guests and essentially turned into a Wilco set by the end of it. I’m going to embed three separate tunes from the show but I recommend downloading the whole thing now. Tweedy plays a solo set on Sunday at Loufest in St. Louis and Wilco next plays Friday September 3rd at Jazz Aspen.
Look Out For My Love (w/ all of Avi Buffalo)
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READ ON for two more tracks from the Tweedy set as well as MMJ & RAQ…
The latest Road Trips release focuses on an interesting period in the band’s history. Newcomer Brent Mydland was injecting new life into songs and becoming more comfortable with each passing show. This pair of shows – played at Penn State’s Recreation Hall and Cornell’s Barton Hall – focuses heavily on material from the recently released Go To Heaven and also includes a number of stellar jams including a blazing China > Rider and a top-notch Cassidy. There’s also good versions of the Lost Sailor > Saint of Circumstance and Lazy Lightning > Supplication pairings.
Formerly The Warlocks contains every note played at the band’s legendary run of the same name at the Hampton Coliseum on October 8 and 9, 1989. This marks the group’s first box-set release focusing on material from the ’80s. There are plenty of highlights on these shows – of which high-quality recordings have circulated for years – including bust outs of Dark Star, Help On The Way > Slipknot! and Attics of My Life. Both sets are available for purchase now with Formerly The Warlocks running $69.99 and Road Trips setting you back $23.98.
Last month, our own Ryan Dembinsky started a new tradition here on Hidden Track by detailing the first leg of Phish’s Summer Tour 2010 from A – Z.
[Photo by Adam Kaufman]
Today, we present a new list breaking down the recently completed second leg of the tour from A -Z. Take a look…
A is for Alpine – The most well-rounded two-night stand on the tour, the Alpine run had it all from jams to transitions to Fuck Your Face to Trey machine gunning the hell out of the massive venue. There’s a reason the band keeps coming back to East Troy each summer.
B is for Burn that Bridge – The band continued the trend started in Leg 1 of soundchecking this song regularly while refraining from playing it live during the show. There were at least three instances during Leg 2 where the Anastasio/Amanda Green penned tune was played to an empty house.
C is for Cities – Possibly the song of tour, Cities was not only slayed at the Greek and at Jones Beach but was soundchecked in Telluride. The Greek version ranks among the best jams of summer.
D is for Deer Creek – Phish’s Midwest home away from home, Deer Creek once again provided hallowed ground for the band to work its magic. The first set of the first night was a trainwreck but by the end of the show the boys had restored all faith in them and the power of the venue. Night 2, their 20th show there, ranks up there with the best of them from Noblesville. READ ON for more of our look at Phish Tour…
Friday 4 the Foodies columnist Jon Hochstat reminded us that original Gov’t Mule bassist Allen Woody passed away ten years ago today. Woody was such a paradox of a human being. He had such a heavy bass sound but his mando playing was light and beautiful. He was a massive hulk of an intimidating man, yet was a sweet soul with a heart of gold. The Mule has rolled on to achieve lots of success in the decade since Woody left this planet, but there’s no doubt it’s never been the same since his passing.
Allen Woody first gained national exposure in 1989, when he joined the Allman Brothers Band for their “reunion” tour after a seven year break. Woody’s heavy tone gave the Allmans’ sound an edge that was missing since Berry Oakley died and Allen immediately formed a bond with band mate Warren Haynes. Woody and Warren started Gov’t Mule in 1994 with Matt Abts and about three years later the pair left the Allmans to work full-time on the Mule.
The recently released Mulennium – recorded at the Roxy in Atlanta on December 31, 1999 – shows just how impressive the power trio was after more than two years of constant touring. Sadly, we’ll never know what heights the trio version of the Mule would’ve reached had Woody not been found by a chambermaid at a Queens Motel ten years ago today. We miss Woody and hope he’s resting in peace jamming out with the likes of Jerry Garcia, Rick Danko and Duane Allman in the afterlife.
For this week’s B List we’ve put together a collection of 10 Woody-centric videos. READ ON for a look at what Allen delivered during his time on Earth…
Since becoming temporarily obsessed with Brooklyn’s Fang Island precisely two days ago, I’ve stumbled on some of the most passionate descriptions and comments about this band: “It’s exactly what Wyld Stallyns would have sounded like if they had been a real band,” “This song would be playing at the end of the movie of my life, after I killed all the zombies, saved my best friends life, and won the heart of the girl of my dreams,” and of course their self-descriptor, “Everyone high-fiving everyone.” They take that X-Games pop-punk sound, but class it up by laying into it and letting it rip with a little prog and some towering jams. This segment from the studio session at Seattle’s KEXP is a great introduction (the ending is epic).
With 2010 marking the 40th anniversary of Jimi Hendrix’s death, fans in the UK will be able to get a intimate glimpse of his life in swinging London as part of the Hendrix In Britain exhibit at the Handel House Museum. The exhibit, which opened yesterday and runs through November 7, features a number of rare Hendrix items, including his clothes, hand-written lyrics, posters and one of his ‘Flying V’ guitars. As an added bonus fans will be able to tour the two-floor apartment that Hendrix lived in at 23 Brook Street from September 15-26, which was coincidentally the same house that composer George Frideric Handel lived and worked in for over thirty years.
Finally, in our continuing effort to drool over all the great September releases comes details about Eric Clapton’s latest album which will simply be called – Clapton. For his 19th studio effort, and first in five years, Slowhand has recruited an all-star cast of high profile guests which include jazz man Wynton Marsalis, New Orleans legned Allen Toussaint and songstress Sheryl Crow as well as former band mates Steve Winwood and Derek Trucks. The self-titled album will hit shelves on September 28, and is currently available for pre-order in a limited edition deluxe bundle via the guitar-slinger’s website.
Tom Petty & My Morning Jacket @ Izod Center, August 24
Every old generation likes to tell the new generation that things used to be better back in the day. This especially rings true in rock where many of those in their 50s and 60s like to tell me I totally missed out on the likes of Zeppelin, Hendrix and The Band and that no artist of the ’80s, ’90s and ’00s could ever compare. Last night at the Izod Center was the rare evening when the best of the old school and new school came together as current rockers My Morning Jacket and classic rockers Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers showed that rock music is in good hands over the course of three hit-heavy hours in East Rutherford, NJ.
My Morning Jacket came on exactly at the 7:30PM ticket time so that they could play for as long as possible before The Heartbreakers took the stage. The quartet opened with a little taste of Rollin’ Back before quickly segueing into The Way That He Sings. Despite only having an hour to perform, Jim James and his band mates made the most of each minute and packed the set with their best material. Near me, many of the patrons were clearly at the venue to see Petty and sat with arms folded through the first few songs. As MMJ tore through Off The Record and Gideon I could tell they were connecting with even the most jaded of Petty fans. Bopping heads turned into full body thrashing by the time One Big Holiday closed out the set. It’s always great to see people won over by good, honest music.
As the MMJ set progressed I started feeling bad for Petty. How do you follow one of the best bands in rock who is at its peak? James has great stage presence as displayed during his Wordless Chorus antics which included hiding underneath his cape while still singing loudly and proudly. The band’s newest song, Circuital, fit into the set nicely – quite the compliment considering the gems MMJ threw down on this night.
READ ON for more on Tom Petty & MMJ in New Jersey…
Popular kids TV show Yo Gabba Gabba!’s There’s A Party In My City tour kicks off on Friday night in Bethel, NY and DJ Lance Rock and the Gabba Gang will be joined by musical guests at each stop on the tour. Jambands.com reports that the list of guests features HT faves Keller Williams, Toubab Krewe and the Drive-By Truckers.
Other artists joining Brobee et. al include Zac Brown, Amanda Palmer & Jason Webley, Big Head Todd, Citizen Cope, Kid Koala, Leslie Hall, Mates of State, Money Mark, OK Go, Steel Train, Sunbears!, The Aquabats, The Salteens, The Worsties and Unicycle. Visit the tour’s website for more information and details on each stop of the extensive tour.
As always, we’ve got six links to help you get over the hump…
Finally, the Goo Goo Dolls are celebrating 25 years in the music business by doing what they’ve done throughout that time – touring relentlessly and putting out new music. Whereas in the past the Buffalo rockers would put out an album and then tour behind it, they flipped the script this time around and will have played a 100 shows featuring the new material before the LP drops on Tuesday. Glide’s Leslie Michele Derrough spoke with GGD bassist Robby Takac about the current state of the industry, how big hits have effected him and how he doesn’t want to wind up being Gregg Allman for a feature on the main site. It’s an interesting read, so check it out.
Last week Ropeadope Records reissued Antibalas’ landmark 2004 release Who Is This America? complete with a bonus track, Money Talks, produced by Scott Harding. The afrobeat collective’s LP was released just as public opinion towards the Iraq War was turning and the music tackles that issue and others facing the country in the wake of 9/11 under George W.’s rule.
As part of our long-standing Everybody Wins When We Plug Something And In Return They Offer Us Free Shit To Give Away program we’ve got a copy of the album as well as a limited edition Ropeadope Running Man t-shirt for one of our readers. To enter, simply leave a comment below telling us about your favorite t-shirt of all-time. You can only enter once and all entries must be received by Sunday, August 29 at 11:59AM. We’ll pick one entry at random early next week to win the package. Good luck!
Once again, we’ve teamed up with Parker Harrington, aka @TMWSIY, who created a comprehensive survey asking fans for their thoughts about the recently completed second leg of Phish Summer Tour 2010. Parker’s poll includes questions about the scene, your reading habits, the venues and most importantly plenty of questions about the music from the leg.
[Photo by Adam Kaufman]
In other poll news, last week we asked our readers to grade the tour and with over 1,000 fans responding, the band earned a B or above from over 90% of those who participated. The results are down just a tad from the last leg in which 95% gave Phish a B+ or above. 5.4% graded the band a B- this time around, where is just about where I had ‘em.
Brooklyn’s MGMT put out an official video for the title track of the group’s sophomore effort, Congratulations. The video finds Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser wandering through the desert and is trippy as hell, which is to be expected from the psychedelic-rock act. Take a look…
– which drops on September 21 and channels vintage 1960′s and 70′s soul sounds.
. For his 19th studio effort, and first in five years, 
